With one win
each the two sides meet sitting in the bottom four of the
Premier League. A London derby thus takes on a bit
more significance with points to lift the teams up the table
the highest priority on the agenda.

Fulham will
be a different proposition this season. Lawrie
Sanchez's management style is much different to that of the
former boss Chris Coleman and the changes in personnel have
already stamped the new manager's brand on the side.
Hard working and in your face, the ethic he ingrained in
Northern Ireland is being transferred to West London with
every additional player he had in his charge on the
international scene. Eleven players have been brought
in and the flavour of the side has changed from Coleman's
Welsh to Sanchez's Irish. Aaron Hughes, Steven Davis,
David Healy and Chris Baird have all been brought in over
the summer.

Baird was a
player much sought after and his move from Southampton gives
him he chance to shine in the Premier League, but he will
have to step up his game to cope with the extra quality in
the top division. With Zat Knight shipped out to Aston
Villa, Sanchez wasted no time in bringing in the talented 20
year old Nathan Ashton from Charlton Athletic to add to the
defence, which also boasts Paul Konchesky, Carlos Bocanegra,
Moritz Volz, Iain Pearce and Phillipe Christanval. The
main problem with the back line is the lack of natural pace.
There is plenty of experience, but you feel that if Spurs
can get beyond the last man, there will be problems for the
home side. They do provide threats from set-pieces
though, with height from Pearce and Bocanegra will need to
be tightly marked from corners and free-kicks.
Konchesky likes to get forward and Volz can raid up the
flank, but hopefully, it may be possible to peg him back by
pushing up the wing ourselves. Liam Rosenior has been
linked with a move away from Fulham, but he is a useful
player, although prone to lapses of concentration.

With the
option of Malbranque striving to show the hostile Fulham
crowd what they are missing and Wayne Routledge to show them
what they could have had, should he have continued to ply
his trade at the Cottage after being there on loan last
season, Tottenham could give the home side something to
think about, with Aaron Lennon maybe ready to play some part
in the game too.

With Tomas
Radzinski having been released in the summer, the front line
is also missing Brian McBride, who suffered a painful knee
injury after scoring against Middlesbrough. Thus
former Leeds United striker David Healy has taken on the
role of main goalscorer and has hit two so far, with his low
centre of gravity and awareness around the box making him a
player who will naturally get the ball on target.
Diomansy Kamara has moved to Craven Cottage, but has
received mixed reviews, being a talented goalscorer, but one
who does not always play a team role. Collins John has
been in limbo with possible transfers away from the club
having fallen through and Lee Cook was snapped up from
nearby QPR, being a flighty winger who was tracked by Spurs
at one stage, but he chose to move to Fulham, where he feels
he will get his opportunity quicker.

The midfield
is still shorn of Jimmy Bullard, whose infectious drive has
seen the side deprived by his long term knee injury, but
Clint Dempsey, Alexei Smertin, Simon Davies and Steven Davis
mix well to provide energy and skill from this area.
With Papa Diop on his way out of the club, the Cottagers
lack a big ball-winner in midfield, but Konchesky can play
there if required. Davis is the hub that the midfield
revolves around, while Davies has pace to break forward and
Smertin the player with the guile and passing ability to
free the front men. Dempsey has come in from the US,
but has yet to reach the required standard in the PL and his
finishing missed out on a point against Boro, when he hit
wide with the goal gaping in front of him.

With Antti
Niemi suffering a string on injuries, Tony Warner has been
found out with two goals thrown away in the first two games
of the season and thus Sanchez brought in former Spurs
goalie Kasey Keller on a free transfer from Borussia
Moenchengladbach. A tried and tested keeper, KK will
give them a seriously experienced gloveman, but again he has
flaws in his game. Free-kicks can catch him out and
with Tottenham having an array of dead-ball exponents, this
may be a problem, while his kicking is poor and put under
pressure, it may mean Spurs can exploit this weakness.

With Spurs
almost back to full strength if all the players come back
from injury, they should feel better about things and
following last week's close defeat at Manchester United,
they should have confidence to take the game to Fulham.
While nothing can be taken for granted, Spurs need to show
that they can dictate the pace of games and provide enough
ammunition for the strikers to notch the goals to take them
to a narrow victory against a side who won't give up running
and battling ...

PREDICTION :
- Fulham 1 Tottenham Hotspur
2

For more information on
the opponents and their history, including full result history of
matches between the two teams, click
here.

While this result replicated the one last year, with a point gained, the
result should have been so much different and the failure to hold onto
and build on a lead against a side like Fulham may be detrimental in
future games Spurs face.

Having
twice been two goals ahead, there is no way that the home side should
have been allowed back into the game. Unfortunate to hit the post
and have one cleared off the line, Tottenham had enough chances to win
easily and then trying to sit back and defend the lead is always a
mistake.

With Martin Jol under pressure over the
last couple of weeks, you would have thought a second convincing victory
might have taken the spotlight off him for a while. But while I am
not one to call for someone's head unnecessarily, he will need to sort
out the side's defending from set-pieces and if he believes in an
attacking policy, then he should stick to it.

With Kaboul just back from injury and
Dawson coming on for his first appearance of the season, it was not a
time to start letting the pressure build on the back four. A
deflected goal was cruel, but the poor marking at the death lead to
Fulham's late equaliser and the loss of two valuable points. The
match preview on this page hinted that the Cottagers would not give up,
so why didn't Tottenham do the same.

From the start of the game, Tottenham
were going forward at Fulham. Berbatov is the one who was ruled
offside for the first of many times Spurs got caught out. Fulham
played a high back line, but Tottenham's forwards and midfielders did
not time their runs well enough to make the most of the huge gaps in the
white shirted back four. Fulham's defence was so ragged, the
chances came so regularly, the Spurs players must have got bored, as
they wasted them as they ran into a 2-0 lead.

Too many times players decided to pass on
responsibility for shooting to someone else - Keane's flick out right to
Malbranque in the sixth minute which ended in Niemi's arms - being the
first example. Also too often players failed to attack the danger
areas when Spurs had dead ball situations. Jenas' second half
corner dropped invitingly in the six yard box with only white shirts
there and Huddlestone's free-kick to the far post slipped a foot past
the post with Niemi and a defender leaving it to each other, when
Chimbonda should have been moving onto it and would have had a simple
chance to score.

As it was, Spurs were literally handed
the first goal, with Antti Niemi dropping a corner at the feet of,
luckily for him, one of his defenders - Baird - who hoofed the ball away
for another corner. Although this one came in from the other side,
Bale's ball in was again dropped and the one bit of luck Tottenham had
saw the ball bounce off Younes Kaboul and he only had to stab the ball
over the line from a foot out to make it 1-0. Ten minutes had
passed.

The opportunities continued. Hud
volleyed well over and Keane's near post header went over, but Robbo
spilled a low cross from Bouazza and Steve Davis knocked the loose ball
over the bar. After 27 minutes, Berbatov's goal put Spurs into a
lead which should have ensured more than the finished up with. A
bouncing ball was played down the right for Dimitar, who got beyond
Stefanovic and cut into the area to unleash an early shot that beat
Niemi at his near post.

At this point Fulham were there for the
taking. Jenas raced through on goal, but took too long to decide
if he was going to shoot or pass square to Keane, leaving Bocanegra the
opportunity to tackle him. A minute later Keane did the same
thing, dithering instead of getting his shot away. You had the
feeling that if the score had been 0-0 or if the chances had fallen to
Defoe, they might have ended differently. Malbranque's shot was
deflected wide and then Rocha got to the corner first and his near post
header went to the far post, with no-one there for Tottenham once again.

When it looked
so comfortable for Tottenham, it all started
to go wrong. Simon Davies played in a
straightforward corner, but with Chimbonda
getting the wrong side of his man, Clint
Dempsey had an east task in powering a
header into the net, just three minutes
before half time. Even then, there was
a chance for Bale to restore the two goal
advantage, forcing Niemi to a low save after
being played in by Berbatov.

The second half
started well with Berba striking a ball in
the air and forcing Niemi to a flying save
to tip it over the bar and eight minutes
later, Jermaine Jeans repeated the action,
with the Fulham keeper tipping the shot
round the post. Still the chances came
along with Steed striking a loose ball
fiercely, but it bounced back off the
goal-post with Niemi beaten. Spurs had
to wait until the 61st minute to beat the
goalie, with Kaboul winning a defensive
header and the ball was helped onto Gareth
Bale through Huddlestone and Keane, to leave
him a free run on goal and he was clam
enough to look up to see Berbatov to his
right and chose to slide the ball home
between Niemi and his right hand post.
It was a cool finish from a young man who
was the Spurs man of the match for his
energetic performance.

At 3-1 up
with half an hour to go, it should have
spelled the end for Fulham, but it was from
here that the tide turned. The front
two became more distant from the midfield
and that meant both that the ball fell to
Fulham most times when it was cleared from
either end and also that the pressure built
on our defence. There was still time
for Jenas to burst into the area and chose
to pass to Keane (unsuccessfully as it turns
out) instead of shooting, while Bocanegra
and Niemi messed up dealing with a high ball
on the edge of their box and Berbatov
drilled his shot at what seemed like an open
goal, only for Chris Baird to appear and
manage to deflect it wide with his thigh.

Keane looked
disgusted to be substituted with Defoe
coming on, rightly so, when there was little
outlet play coming from the defence or
midfield, as clearances got more and more
panicky.

Shot started to fly in on the Tottenham
goal. Davies hit one way over, as did Dempsey before Davies'
free-kick was well gather by Robinson. By then he had been beaten
by a deflection off Rocha, as he dived in to try and block Smertin's
drive. Robbo would have had it covered, but the Portuguese
defender's touch took it high into the air over the keeper and in to
bring it back to 2-3 and Spurs were starting to wobble. Why they
do this, I don't know, as there is enough quality in the side, but when
they try and defend the last third, they ask for trouble.

Defoe flashed a shot wide when Chimbonda
set him up from a well worked short corner, but it was not enough, as a
late Fulham long throw was headed out by Kaboul, but only to the edge of
the area, where Diomansy Kamara launched himself into the air and
performed an overhead kick that left Robinson unable to reach it as it
headed into the net in the top corner. It was a last minute goal
in a million and summed up some of the lack of fortune Tottenham have
been having this season, but they were masters of their own downfall by
not ramming home the advantage like they did against Derby County.

Whether it is Jol's tactics or the
players' insecurities when ahead in a game, but they have to learn to
finish games off and to make sure that if they are going to defend, they
do so without losing their shape. For too long, we have seen
Tottenham sides trying to defend leads and it has never worked.

The loss of two points here was a big
thing in terms of our final league placing. Turning winning
positions into three points is something the team still need to master
and although it was one of the better away performances under Jol, there
is still a feeling that the team need to adopt a more high tempo
approach to their away games against the lower sides ... especially as
it looks like we need a four goal start to take something from the match
!!

I've
been a regular critic of Martin Jol, as you know.
Like many I admire his strong personality, and
his refreshing attitude is a change from the blinkered
likes of Wenger and Ferguson.

However the start to this season, has been a terrible
calamity. The board undermining him in Seville was
totally out of order, and we're all agreed that any
managerial changes should take place close season.
But ENIC have invested heavily in the squad, and deserve
a return on that. Although perhaps their focus
should be about our ground - a big five club with a
36,000 capacity?

However on the playing side:

we still have no left sided midfielder;

little quality midfield or defensive cover;

a goalkeeper too easily beaten; and

an ill-coordinated back four;

Who
takes the blame for that? Jol.

We
all know that Tottenham cannot defend a lead. Clearly
illustrated as we crumbled at Fulham. We retreat
back, and then hoof speculative balls to Berbatov.
How many times have we let in late goals over the past
three seasons. Tactics are very much Jol's domain
?

Top
four is off the radar already, as the demise of Arsenal
has been grossly exaggerated. With teams like Blackburn,
West Ham and Everton significantly stronger and
hungrier, we cannot even guarantee a UEFA spot.
Given the money we've spent, totally unacceptable. Jol
may be popular, but is he really the right man ?
We all agree that Tottenham need to consider stability
as a new strategy, but too many questions about Jol
remain.

What
a mess (yet again) !

KEVIN COAKER

It is not without
pointing out the obvious that there are problems with the
Spurs team.

I agree with the match report that Chimbonda is not
performing to a level this season that makes him half
the player we thought we had signed. The left sided
midfield issue seems to have been solved by the emergence of
Gareth Bale, but the back four might not be the same until
Michael Dawson is back in tandem with Younes Kaboul. I
would say Ledley King, but I am not sure whether that will
be a long term answer, with the club captain missing ever
increasing chunks of the season.

Again, the report
echoes my thoughts about Jol's tactics and substitutions.
I know he is under pressure to try and secure Defoe's
signature (as well as win the title, Champions League and
UEFA Cup in the same season), but surely, if he was going to
bring him on for Keane, the midfield needed to be a lot
closer to the front men ?

The way the team
dropped so deep almost invited Fulham to have a go, which
they did.

When the team play
like this against a team like Fulham, I fear for what might
happen when we meet a top side ... like a fortnight's time.

EAST STAN

With Martin Jol
hitting out at his "rubbish" defence this morning, he has hit the nail
on the head with two blows.

One, if we cannot
defend well enough to stop a 3-1 lead slipping away, how many goals
ahead do we have to be to be safe in holding onto a lead ?

Secondly, he has
publicly hit out at his team for one of the first times since he has
been in charge, so does this indicate that he is feeling the heat from
the newspaper stories about Juande Ramos and the club's intentions
regarding the Head Coach's job ?

I am not an
advocate of calling for the manager's head, especially when we are so
early in the season. We have seen what happens before when this
happens at Spurs, but Jol seems to take the long view and while he may
not be setting the Premier League alight at the moment, I think that
when he has some more of the injured players back, things will improve.

Most of all I
think that we need to put a string of results together and that might
not start until after the Liverpool game. If you look at our
fixtures, we have some tough ones in the coming few weeks. Not
that these should not be winnable, but not being in the best of form
just now, it might take a few weeks for the team to start playing the
football they need to be playing to succeed.

THE FUNKY
PHANTOM

David Blunkett
and leads the joke's doing the rounds again about Spurs. How we threw
that game away is beyond me. Big Martin blamed rubbish defending and to
some extent he's right, but woeful and wasteful finishing certainly
didnít help. We just can't kill teams off when there for the taking.
Perhaps our players need to be more selfish. I admire what Big Martin
has done for our club, because for years we've been going nowhere, but
sadly I fear the men in suits wonít give him much longer.

Who the answer is
I don't know and more worryingly I donít think the suits do either. If
they bring in a new man this may even see us take a backward step.

For Big
Martin, the club and us I pray we beat the Arse.

Keep the faith
All the best

RICHARD COOK

P.S Heskey
back in the England squad Ö I thought we got rid of Sven - it seems
McClaren's not heard of Defoe either.